Page 879 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

Scene VI IT

Flourish. Enter Warwick [and] Clarence [with the crown, and then] King
Henry the Sixth, Somerset, young Henry [Earl of Richmond], Oxford,

Montague, and [the] Lieutenant [of the Tower].

KING HENRY

Master lieutenant, now that God and friends
Have shaken Edward from the regal seat
And turned my captive state to liberty,
My fear to hope, my sorrows unto joys,
At our enlargement what are thy due fees? [5]

LIEUT ENANT

Subjects may challenge nothing of their sovereigns;
But if an humble prayer may prevail
I then crave pardon of your majesty.

KING HENRY

For what, lieutenant? For well using me?
Nay, be thou sure I’ll well requite thy kindness [10]
For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure,
Ay, such a pleasure as encagèd birds
Conceive when, after many moody thoughts,
At last by notes of household harmony
They quite forget their loss of liberty. - [15]
But, Warwick, after God, thou set’st me free
And chiefly therefore I thank God and thee:
He was the author, thou the instrument.
Therefore, that I may conquer Fortune’s spite
By living low where Fortune cannot hurt me, [20]
And that the people of this blessèd land
May not be punished with my thwarting stars,
Warwick, although my head still wear the crown,
I here resign my government to thee,

[Handing him a commission.]
For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds. [25]

WARWICK

Your grace hath still been famed for virtuous,
And now may seem as wise as virtuous